Apparatus for dehydrating foods.



G. D. HARRIS du J. S. POLLARD. APPABATS FOB .DEHYDBATING FOODS. AruoulouFILED JULY 1e, 190s. nmuzwnn nu. 4, 1912.

Patented Feb. 2, 1912.r

2 SHEETB--BHEET 1. L

W/TNESSE S Gr. D. HARRIS & J. S. POLLARD.

APPARATUS FOR DEHYDRATING FOUDS. APPLICATION FILED .mmr 1e, 199s. nmwwn1.4, 1912.

` Pateted Feb. 20, 1912.

2 SHBBT-SHEET 2.

hdwac bij.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT OEEIOE.

GORDON DON HARRIS, 0F BAY SHORE, AND JAMES S. POLLARD, QF MAMARONEGK,NEW YORK, ASSIGNORS, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO GENERALDEHYDRATOR COMPANY,

A CORPORATION 0F NEW YORK.

AYPARATUS FOR DEHYDRATING FOODS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

rat-cated Feb.' e0, 191e.

Application tledwJuly 16,I 1909, Serial No. 507.906. Renewed January 4,1,912. Serial No. 66%43@ To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that we, Gronooa- DON Hamas, a citizen lof the UnitedStates, residing at Bay Shore, Suffolk county, Long Island, and State ofNew York, and JAMES S. POI.- LAnn, a citizen of the United States,residing at Mamaroneck, "Westchester county, and State lof New York,have jointly invented .a certain `new and useful Apparatus forDehydrat'ing Foods, of which the following :is a specication.

This 'invention is an apparatus for de-4 hydrating atoods, particularlyfruits and vegetables, -and the object in view is to expeditiously andthoroughly remove or elimi natethefaqueous constituents from the foodproducts under treatment, .and =to effect these results in .a`thorough,.eilioient and economi cal manner. y

Tt is 'well established that decay or detierioration will not -takeplace in fruits or vegetables in lthe absence of moisture, and thefpresen't'invention is aimed at removing from said Afruits andvegetables the. watery constituents on which decay depends, and,moreover, to eliminate this watery element so rapidly, and undersuoli'other-conditions, that the-residuary constituents of the fruitsand vegetables remain practically unchanged. That is to say, theinvention is any-'apparatus for producing dehydrated fruitsmndvegetableswhich retain the nor- 'mal lcharzuL-terist-ies of the fresh products,excepttliat'tlic water has been eliminated therefrom.

'The ffollon'ing table shows substantially the :weightof aqueous vaporcontained in one hundred cubic feet of air saturated the1ewit-h,.-at thetemperature specified:

At. degrees Fahrenheit- ,936 Ounces. At 70 1.826 At'90 3.386 At 113 V6.488 aZ\t.-131 f 10.350

111 practicing the invention we endeavor -Ato deliver the heated air tothe apparatus at aytemperaturc of substantially Gl degrees (FJ-:higherthan the outside air. For eX- amplc, if the outside air has atemperature of 7() degrees l we would heat, it to sul stunt-ially 131degrees (F.) prior to its in'- troduct-on into the dehydratngappara-tus.l

Assuming that the airet 70 was saturated with moisture, one 'hundredcubic feet thereof would carry 1.826 Ounces of moisture, and by raisingthe temperature thereof l.to 131 degrees, it would carry, whensaturated, 10.350 Ounces of moisture, or an increase, due to theeleva-tion of temp.erature,iof substantially 8.5 ounces. In lotherwords, under the conditions specified, .each 100 .cubic feet of airwould remove from ,the food products, theoretically, .8 and Qounces ofthoroughly eliminate the ,water iso rapidly that thc -fruits and:vegetables ,are'nototherwise changed from their nat f jgl feonditio'n,we employ, as a rule, .about tl0%. mo re z'air than the theoreticalquantityfgtbpespegitied.

The amount'of water in all edible -ffriiits and vegetables being known,or capable -of determination, the volume ofair-to =be .heated and driventhrough the dehydrating ap-v paratus may be easily computed.

The apparatus embodies certain features of construction and operationdisclosed in a prior application tiled by us on Feb. '13, 1909. SerialNo. 477,667, but it 'eontainsseveral improvements thereon relatingparticularly to the arrangement of the fruit or vegetable perforatedtrays whcrebyth,e 4air is compelled to pass through -the fruit thereonlinstead of merely above and below the same.. y. In the accompanying drawings,-we have illustrated one practical embodiment of the invention,but the constructionshown therein is to be understood as illustrative`only, and not as defining;v thc limits ofi the invention. A i

Figure 1 shows a longitudinal diagrammat-ic view, centrally of theapparatus. with elements shown in elevation; Fig. 2

longitudinal sectional View, on anfenlarged scale. through a tier orseries of trays showin cf` also, the air inlet and exit thereto.v

T n the drm-vingts. A, represents t-he main or' outer casing of thedehydratlng apparw artial, longitudinal sectional View,

tus vwhichris divided into a plurality of chambers, B', B2, B, and B* bymeans of partitions, b, preferably."constructed in a step-up form, forreasons hereinafter stated.

5 The number of chambers may, ofcourse, be

'regulated as desired. Each of the chambers, B to-B is dividedint'o aseries ot compartments by horizontal partitions, c, which may becomposed of wood protected by a'metal facing, r, and supported in eachotthese compartments is a foraminous tray, d, adapted to containNtghefruits or vegetables to be treated. The`trays, d, are sup:u

ported at their sides by angle-irons, e, run-l ning lengthwise of themain casing and so positioned with reference to the horizonand,consequently, be forced into intimatecontact" with the material beingoperated upon, l

-Air is forced into the apparatus b means of a blower, C, and exhaustedthere rom by havin means o f'a second blower, D. The air after passedthrough the blower, C, is broug t into contact withcooling coils orequivalent means, shofwn diagrammatically. at, E, vfor the purpose ofcondensing, in whole or in part, the moisture contained in the air. Theair, having been dehydrated as described, is then brought in contactwith a .heating `cofil 'or equivalent means, shown diagrammatically at,F, for the purpose of raising the temperature of the air to the degreedesired.- The cooling and heating coils are housed in a casing orchamber, G,

the taperingoutlet, f, from which leads to a of the casin --operation'lis provided with an exit, 1, opening linto a,

trunk or main, H, from y which air passes to the chambers,-Bto Bfcontaining the several series of trays, through the openings, h. Theseopenin s, It, are controlled 4by dampers, i, pivote at, i2,- and thesemay be regulated by a;cord or cable, j, passi over a pulley, lo,thence.. extending exi'orly to a convenient locatio for ach of thechambers, Bf to B,

common air taperin exhaust flue or trunk, I, in the endofwhic is locatedthe exhausting fan, D, to which reference has been pre# t v-iouslymade.' The exits, Z, are controlled dampers, m, similar to-dal\11pers,f'i',"here nb'efore described, and -which`maysbeop-V eratedintlesame way-by cables, 5*, passing over pulleys, 7c, Access may be had tothe several chambers, B' to B, for the purpose of introducing andremoving the trays, d, therefrom, through the medium of the pivoteddoors, J, located in the sides of the casing, A. These doors areprovided with latches, o, and although the number and size of such doors may be regulated as desired, it is preferred to have a separate doorfor each tray.

lBy constructing the end members, p and p2 of the casing and thepartitions, in stepu form shown in the drawings, and herein eforereferred to, it will be observed that the air inlet to each series oftrays tapers upward,"i. e., it is larger at the bottom, and that theexhaust therefrom tapers downward, E e., it is larger 'at the top. Byconstruct-ing the end members and partitions as described the course ofthe air through the apparatus is facilitated, and each of the chambersreceives its proper proportion of air. Moreover, as the air escapes fromthe chambers to B to Bt, containing the trays, it passes directly intothe tapering exit trunk or flue, I without being permitted to enter anyother tray-containing chamber,

whereby each. series of trays necessarily're-- ceives freshly heatedair, and the entry thereto of air which has become laden with moistureis precluded.

The frame work of the apparatus, and the outer casing, are preferablymade of wood, but in practice Vit h as been found desirable to line theinterior thereof, including the partitions and intakeand outgoingtrunks, with alvanized iron, y", forthe purpose of provi ying a smoothand sanitary surface on the interior ofthe apparatus.

In practice We have found itt-desirable and advantageous to have thein-going air enter the apparatus at a pressure of about three ounces,and to.i allow it to escape therefrom at a pressure of about two ounces,thereby maintaining a slight pressure in the appa# ratus at all timesdurin the operation;

The material operate i upon, such as bananas, apples, carrots, turnips,parsnips, potatoes, etc., are usually eled and then cut to thedesiredsize be ore placin the same in the trays. While the len th 0'time required for eiectingcomplete ehydration varies'according to thematerial treated, and the particular method of operation, yet, as arule, We are enabled to completely e1imi nate the liquid or moisturefrom said mate- P'al in 'one hour.4

--It will, of course, be understood that slight modification may be madein the apparatus described, as well as in the mo e of operation setforth, without departing from the spirit or substance of our invention.'

While the claim inV this application 'are restricted to an ap parat'us,4we may add that the novel process herein disclosed forms thesubject-matter ot a companion application, Serial No. 511,038, Aug. 3,1909.

Having vthus fully described the invention, what We claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Inan apparatus for dehydrating foods and similar products, a casing,an air inlet and an air exit thereto, a series of step-up partitionstherein forming a plurality of chambers, a "series of partitionsdividing each chamber into compartments, and a fo raminous tray in eachcompartment.

2. In an apparatus for dehydrating foods and similar products, a casingcontaining a chamber separated into compartments by means l ofpartitions, a foraminous tray in each of said compartn'ients, an airIinlet to the compartment above each tray, an air exitfrom thecompartment below each tray whereby the air is forced to pass downwardlythrough the 'tray and the material thereon, and stepped partitions nearthe respective ,end walls of said chamber, said partitions forming withsaid end walls tiues of varying cross sectional areas, with which fluescommunicatethe air ,inlets and the air exits, re-

. specti vely.

3. 'In an apparatus for dehydrating foods and similar products, achamber provided with a seriesr of tray:I having foraminous bottoms,means whereby air is compelled to pass into the trays through their topsand dou-nwardly through the oraminous bottoms of the trays, means forwithdrawing the air after its passage therethrough, .and steppedpartitions near the respective end walls of said chamber', saidpartitions forming with said endA walls flues of varying cross sectionalareas, with which tlues com munieate the air inlets and the air exits,respectively.

4. In an apparatus for dehydrating foods and similar products, a casing,a chamber therein containingr con'ipartments, a forarr' nous tray ineach of said compartments an so positioned therein as to'leave a 'treespace above and below each tray, means for introducing air above eachtray anrl'for compelling it to pass downwardly through th. 'i ry, and anair exitfor The air after it plasses through said trays, and steppedpartitions near the respective end walls of said chamber, saidpartitions forming with said end dividing it walls lues of varying crosssectional areas, with which fines communicate the air inlets Iand theair exits, respectively.

5. In an apparatus for dehydrating foods and similar products, a easing,a plurality of'chambeis therein, an air inlet flue com mon to all ofsaid. chambers, a tapering air intake from said flue to each of saidcha-m bers, a valve for controlling each of the air intakes, an airexhaust flue common to all of said chambers, and a tapering air exitfrom each of said chambers to the flue, the taper of said exits being inan opposite direction to the taper of the air intakes.

6. In an apparatus for dehydrating foods and similar products, a casing,a plurality of chambers therein formed by step-.up partitions, an airinlet tlue common to all of said chambers, an air exit flue common toall of said chambers, a. tapering air otf-talre .from each of saidchambers leadingr into said exit flue, and4 a valve for controlling thepassage of air through each of said; oit'- takes.

7. In an apparatus for dehydrating foods and similar products, a casing,partitions Within said easing for dividing it into a series of upwardlytapering chambers, an air inlet flue connected to the bottom of saidchambers, an air exit tine connected to the top of all the chambers,means for cooling the air, and means for subsequently heating the airprior to its introduction into said air inlet flue.

S. In an apparatus for dehydrating Jfoods and similar products, acasing, a plurality of step-up partitions therein for dividin it into aseries of chambers, a plurality o horizontal partitions in each chamberfor into compartments, a tray with a foraminous bottom in each of thecorn.

, partments, and means for forcing air into each compartment andcompelling it to pass downwardly through the foraminous bot-' 'tom ofthe tray.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names tothls specification 1nthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GORDON DON HARRIS.- JAMns s. roLLARn.

1V itnesses J'As. H. GRIFFIN, I-I. I. BERNHARD.

